


Safety Zone

by exmachinarium



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Anxiety, Gen, Mental Health Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-04
Updated: 2013-09-04
Packaged: 2017-12-25 15:17:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/954652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exmachinarium/pseuds/exmachinarium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In corridor 3-A of the shatterdome, a quarter past noon local time, Mako Mori encounters something unfamiliar. Which strikes her as very suspicious and unusual, since the shatterdome, although quite sizeable in and of itself, is still a closed and closely-guarded space. There's no place for 'unfamiliar' and 'unknown' here other than the specimens and equations locked safely within the K-science labs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safety Zone

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, Pacific Rim meets [Beagle comfort scarf](http://www.ecuad.ca/node/2873). And it probably turned out much angstier than I expected… Sorry for that.

In corridor 3-A of the shatterdome, a quarter past noon local time, Mako Mori encounters something unfamiliar. Which strikes her as very suspicious and unusual, since the shatterdome, although quite sizeable in and of itself, is still a closed and closely-guarded space. There's no place for 'unfamiliar' and 'unknown' here other than the specimens and equations locked safely within the K-science labs.

In that respect, she turns out to be at least partly right. As the figure approaches and their features are less and less obscured by the nooks and shadows of the corridor, Mako's eyes are immediately drawn to blotches of vivid colour peeking from beneath the rumpled and stained shirt, a trademark of K-science division's most eccentric member.

(Or second most eccentric, depending on the day.)

"Good afternoon…" she bites her tongue remembering the displeased look Dr Geiszler gives anyone who addresses him by his full name, "Newt."

"Huh? Oh, hi there, Mako! And waaaait… It's afternoon already? Man, Hermann will get pissy again," he scowls, then shrugs, "Oh, well. Not like he needs me for anything other than grumbling and glaring at."

"I'm sure that's not all Dr Gottlieb needs you for," Mako can feel her lips quirk in the tiniest of smiles before remembering she had a reason behind calling out to the biologist. "Excuse me but… Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, sure. Ask away!" Newt answers before she can finish the sentence and gives her a grin so broad it doesn't seem entirely genuine.

Mako hesitates for a moment and her eyes once again drift from Newton's face towards his unbuttoned collar and the fresh outline of a kaiju, glaring down at her with a menacing grin, sharp teeth exposed victoriously. Part of her, the same part which remembers the earth-shattering roars drowning out her screams, the heavy but improbably fast stomps she couldn't outrun no matter how hard she tried, tells her to just walk away and never speak to this… Beast-worshipper ever again. But she reasons with it, explains how Newton's tattoos are not there to mock but to remember. Mako forces herself to look back up and at the thing she was actually interested in.

"What's on your head?" she blurts out, her insides still painfully constricted with an echo of fear.

This, truth be told, is not an entirely precise question, as the hood-like garment flows down almost to Geiszler's knees in two long 'ears'. Which is probably why Newton blinks in confusion at first, but then one of his hands instinctively slips into the pocket of one 'ear'. The feel of fabric apparently snaps him out of it, because he chuckles and moves his head from side to side to make the 'ears' flap a little.

"You look like Terriermon," Mako remarks with a chuckle of her own, tension gradually leaving her body.

"I KNEW you'd be the kind to watch _Digimon_ , I just knew it!” Geiszler nearly punches the air in excitement, but his hand gets stuck on its way out of the pocket, making him settle for a broad and for once genuine grin, “But just so we're clear, the original series is where it's at. I'm telling you, Agumon is the shi-I guess I should just answer your question, right?”

"You see," he continues in a less manic tone as he crouches down to Mako's eye level (the menacing kaiju snout almost out of view), "I got this awesome thing around last Christmas - Tendo helped me do a Secret Santa swap and all. Anyway, a couple of years ago one bright guy at Emily Carr University decided to go creative with science and made this thing. Soft, warm, good at muffling outside noises and with the most neutral and calming smell imaginable… You can even plug your MP3 player in," Newt raises the left flap to show a large, big-buttoned panel similar to that of an audio player built in where one can easily reach it, "but I usually don't because classical music is boring and my beats sort of ruin the whole idea… In short, it's a pimped-out comfort blanket to use whenever I feel-"

He stops abruptly. Not because he's talking to a child (and that's who Mako is, in spite of her serious face, respectful talk and the fact he had never seen her wearing colour) and needs to find a way to talk circles around the actual 'adult' problem. He stops because he's not sure if he needs to explain anything to her; about the times you don't wake up because you hadn't really gone to sleep, just stared into the monsters creeping in the dark; the mornings when you fall out of your bed and stay on the floor for hours because it feels too heavy - your limbs, your head, your heart, everything feels just too heavy to get it back up and running; the days when you cower in front of your door, body giving out, the hand on the doorknob shaking so badly you wonder dumbly how come it doesn't fall off - and you pray it doesn't because you know, you just know that it's the only thing that stands between you and what's beyond the suddenly-too-thin walls of your room, something huge, ugly and downright _terrifying_ ; the out-of-the-blue moments when everything around you distorts and melts down, when you curl in on yourself and you cry and you choke and then you cry some more.

"- whenever I feel a bit less like a rock star." No, he figures out. No, he doesn't.

Mako looks at him in silence, then nods slowly - and Newton wants to think he gave her some sort of advice just now; she might get one of her own, or something like it, or maybe she already has one herself, who knows.

"And yeah, it might look a bit funny," with that he's back on track, back in control, "but it's still better looking than that horrible, oversized coat Hermann drags around everywhere. Like he's ever been a pilot, bah!"

"Speaking of Dr Gottlieb…"

"What about him…?" Newton glances at his clock and is stuck somewhere between cursing and making a face. In the end he just stands up with a sigh of 'now I'll never hear the end of it'. They exchange goodbyes and the scientist is off at top speed, the flaps of his comfort hood wrapped around his neck to prevent them from getting in the way. Mako looks after him until he's well out of sight, then heads her own way with a slightly more purposeful stride.

(And whatever disdain or hatred she might feel for Newton and his kaiju-loving ways seems to be placated for the time being.)


End file.
